Chapter 31

Qi Xing got her period.

In Qi Yang’s mind, she had always been a helpless little kid. Truth be told, he didn’t know much about periods himself. He only had a basic concept of a woman’s menstrual cycle—knew there was bleeding every month for a few days. But at what age it started? He’d never looked into it.

In fact, until he saw that bloodstain, it had never really occurred to him that Qi Xing was a girl who, sooner or later, would grow up and develop.

That there would be a real, biological difference between them.

Afraid he might be mistaken, Qi Yang went into the master bedroom to check.

Sure enough, Zou Meizhu’s quilt hadn’t been touched all night. He lifted Qi Xing’s covers and found another small bloodstain on the sheet.

“You…”

Qi Yang turned around. Qi Xing was following him like a shadow, completely unfazed by the blood on the bed, calm and natural.

A wave of confusion washed over Qi Yang, along with a strange, indescribable melancholy.

He crouched down, gently tapped her nose, and asked softly, “Does it hurt?”

Qi Xing said nothing, her eyelashes fluttering as she looked everywhere but at him.

Qi Yang searched the house from top to bottom but couldn’t find any of Zou Meizhu’s sanitary pads. He locked Qi Xing in the bedroom, didn’t even bother putting on socks, grabbed his jacket, and ran to the small supermarket at the neighborhood entrance.

By the time he got back, Qi Xing was already sitting at the table, fiddling with her notebooks and sticker art.

Qi Yang studied the packaging on the sanitary pad for a while, then dug out a clean pair of Qi Xing’s underwear. Following the picture on the wrapper, he stuck one pad onto the crotch.

Then he led her to the bathroom and handed her the underwear.

“Go pee, then change into these,” Qi Yang instructed. “Take off everything you’re wearing, just like after a bath.”

Qi Xing took the underwear and started peeling at the pad as if it were a sticker.

“Don’t peel that off,” Qi Yang said, embarrassed and not sure how to explain. “It’ll be uncomfortable if you do.”

It took a lot of coaxing and demonstrating, but once Qi Xing had changed, Qi Yang made her brush her teeth and wash her face, then tucked her back into his own bed. After that, he stripped the soiled sheet from her bed and soaked it in the laundry basin along with the pants she’d taken off.

When all that was done, he called Zou Meizhu and told her to come home as soon as possible. Then he cooked a pot of rice porridge and boiled an extra egg just for Qi Xing.

Zou Meizhu must have won some money last night. She came back carrying a bag of fried dough sticks and two steamer baskets of buns, her eyes bloodshot but still gleaming.

“God, it’s freezing!” she chirped cheerfully, handing the breakfast to Qi Yang. “Sorry I’m late. Mom had great luck tonight… Where’s Xingxing?”

Qi Yang came out of the kitchen with a cigarette between his lips. Without a word, he took out the sanitary pads he’d bought that morning and handed them to her.

Zou Meizhu froze when she saw them, then quickly understood. “…She got it?”

“Yeah,” Qi Yang replied curtly. “I just stuck one on and changed her pants. You need to teach her how to use them. It’s not convenient for me.”

The joy that had been written all over Zou Meizhu’s face visibly dimmed.

She squeezed the pad Qi Yang had bought and muttered, “You got the thick kind.”

After checking on Qi Xing in Qi Yang’s room, she let out a soft sigh. “The thing you dread most always comes.”

Qi Yang didn’t understand what she meant at first, not until Qi Xing’s menstrual blood stained another sheet and a third pair of underwear.

Including the stool Qi Xing had sat on.

The bleeding was unpredictable. Sometimes a pad would last hours; other times, if Zou Meizhu slacked off and didn’t check Qi Xing’s underwear for two hours, it would smear everywhere.

For two days straight, nothing else in the house got done. All their time went to watching Qi Xing’s bottom and washing things.

On the second evening, Zou Meizhu got the mahjong itch. Before leaving, she specifically added an extra layer of tissue over Qi Xing’s pad. When she came rushing back at midnight, having lost, she felt the damp sheet under Qi Xing’s bottom and let out a scream that she’d been suppressing for years.

“Can’t you feel it?” She grabbed Qi Xing’s arm and yanked her up. “If it feels wet, change it! Peel it off like you tear your sticker art, then put a new one on! I’ve taught you so many times—is it that hard?!”

Qi Xing was terrified. Sitting there in her dirty underwear, she covered her head and screamed back at Zou Meizhu.

The noise woke Qi Yang. Frowning, he came in, picked Qi Xing up, and tucked her into his own bed.

He put on a fresh pad for her and made her change into clean underwear, stopping her screaming. Then he coldly turned to Zou Meizhu. “Can you skip mahjong for just one day?”

“This isn’t about mahjong!”

Zou Meizhu’s eyes were bloodshot, tears streaming uncontrollably down her face.

“This is only the beginning. She’ll have to live like this for the rest of her life! Her whole life! Do you understand what I mean, Qi Yang?”

“I’ve raised her for over a decade. I’m only fifty, and I’ve already gone through menopause! How many more years do I have?”

“Even if I take care of her for another twenty years, what will happen to her after I die? You’re her brother. You’re a man. Can you change her underwear and bathe her every day like I do?”

“Huh?!”

“I’m worried about you, son!”

The old residential building had terrible soundproofing. On top of Qi Xing and Zou Meizhu’s alternating screams came angry curses from the neighbors upstairs and downstairs, along with stomping on the floor.

Qi Yang stood at the master bedroom door, watching Zou Meizhu quietly. After a long moment, for the first time in ten years, he moved closer on his own. He wrapped an arm around her shoulder and stroked her back soothingly.

Zou Meizhu burst into loud sobs.

“It’s okay, Mom.”

Qi Yang lowered his eyelids tiredly and said in a low voice, “It’ll be fine.”

That night, Qi Yang didn’t sleep.

He leaned against the headboard, scrolling through his phone, researching. He ordered a box of menstrual underwear for Qi Xing.

On the day his annual leave started, Qi Yang took the initiative to call Mu Yicong.

“That hospital you recommended that day,” he said, clearing his throat awkwardly after having previously turned Mu Yicong down. “I’d like to go check it out.”

“Okay,” Mu Yicong replied, not sounding surprised at all by Qi Yang’s change of heart. “I’ll arrange it.”

He agreed so quickly that Qi Yang felt even more embarrassed.

But he couldn’t bring himself to say polite formalities. Hanging up right after asking for a favor would be too inhuman. And Mu Yicong just waited patiently, saying nothing else, not hanging up.

After holding out for a long moment, Qi Yang found a topic. “What are you doing?”

“Before I answered the phone?” Mu Yicong thought for a moment. “I was calculating when you’d call me.”

“Talk properly.” Qi Yang pursed his lips.

“I knew you wouldn’t pass up this opportunity,” Mu Yicong said. “You’re a good brother, Qi Yang.”

Qi Yang had a weird quirk. Harsh attitudes and sharp words rolled off him. In school, the more Mu Yicong clashed with him, the harder he fought back.

But Mu Yicong had changed. He kept saying strange things, and now he was complimenting him. So Qi Yang just stiffened his face, unable to respond.

“About what time after the New Year?” he asked, cutting straight to the point after a few seconds of silence.

“No need to wait until after the New Year.” Mu Yicong’s tone turned serious. “I’ve already contacted someone. We can go soon. But not to the hospital yet. We can find the doctor and ask about the situation first. Then after the New Year, we’ll take the kid for a proper consultation.”

“Okay.” Qi Yang calculated the time. “Send me the address. I can leave in the next couple of days.”

As soon as he said that, Mu Yicong’s attitude shifted subtly.

“You’re using my connections,” he said to Qi Yang. “If I’m not there, can you even get through the door?”

“What do you mean?” Qi Yang tensed, expecting him to start talking about repayment or something.

“I have time tomorrow or the day after,” Mu Yicong said. “I’ll take you. I have some things to take care of there too.”

Qi Yang thought it over seriously for a moment, then agreed. “Thanks.”

Mu Yicong chuckled and hung up.

When Zou Meizhu heard that Qi Yang was going out, she acted as if he were heading off to war. She immediately went into full alert mode.

“Where to?” She paced around his room, watching him pack. “Why do you need to bring luggage?”

“Hospital, in another city,” Qi Yang explained simply. “Two days, I’ll be back.”

“Two days…” Zou Meizhu relaxed a little. “That’s okay, you’ll make it back for New Year’s. Taking Xingxing?”

“Not this time.” Qi Yang went to get Qi Xing’s medical records. “It’s a long way. She can’t sit still, and it’s cold.”

Zou Meizhu fell silent. She sat on the edge of the bed for a while, then weakly lifted her eyes to scan Qi Yang’s face. “You’re not going to be like Qi Dahai, are you? Leave and never come back?”

Qi Yang’s hands paused mid-pack. He turned to look at Zou Meizhu and realized she was truly old.

Even if she still loved to doll herself up, still wore bright colors at fifty, her made-up face no longer held the delicacy of youth. Wrinkles and sagging brows couldn’t be hidden.

But most of all, it was her eyes.

Eyes worn down by life to the point of giving up, yet still cautious and afraid of being abandoned again.

“What are you saying?” Qi Yang deliberately lightened his tone and made a joke. “Even if I don’t take care of you, I still have to take care of Qi Xing.”

“Little brat!” Zou Meizhu relaxed and slapped his arm. “You have to take care of Mom too!”

Zou Meizhu was easy to calm down. She could understand reason.

But when it was time to leave, the one who truly couldn’t understand was Qi Xing.

She had a conditioned aversion to Qi Yang’s luggage bag. As if she knew that every time her brother carried a big bag or suitcase, it meant he was taking her to crowded places. She twisted her body and hid straight into the bedroom.

When she realized Qi Yang didn’t mean to take her, she came out silently and grabbed his hand tightly, refusing to let go.

“Brother is going out to buy you sticker art,” Qi Yang coaxed patiently. “I’ll be back tomorrow evening.”

Qi Xing understood “sticker art.” She blinked twice and let go.

Mu Yicong was waiting for him outside the neighborhood. This time he’d switched to an off-road vehicle and drove right over.

Qi Yang got into the passenger seat. They exchanged a glance.

“What are you looking at?” Qi Yang stared at him.

“You look haggard.” Mu Yicong lifted his chin. “Seatbelt.”

Qi Yang recalled the sheets and underwear he’d washed over the past few days. Without explaining anything, he pulled the seatbelt and clicked it on.

For the first dozen kilometers or so, they didn’t say much.

After they exited the toll booth, Qi Yang took out his phone to search for the address. “Thanks for this. I’ll book the accommodation tonight.”

“No need,” Mu Yicong said. “I have a place there.”

“That works.” Qi Yang nodded. He’d just book a place for himself—cheaper, maybe a small inn.

Mu Yicong reached over and pulled the phone out of his hand.

“You’re staying with me,” he informed Qi Yang.

Qi Yang was stunned for a moment before turning to look at him. “What?”